Nilufer and Alpel's sailing adventures in the Eastern Caribbean. Stories of a lifestyle on a 38 ft Lagoon catamaran, covering from Portorico to Grenada, and from 2011 to date, with pictures.

Monday, November 12, 2012

At Last, Sailing (actually motoring) Away

Friday morning rain or shine, we decided to take off. Early
in the morning we got ready, studied the chart, and made the route. I wrote
down all the bearings on the turns, and the mileage, which reduces my anxiety,
and Al opened the sail bag and got the sails ready, and fired up the engines at
8:15 am. I tended to the ropes, and shortly thereafter we started.

The bay is facing south and quite narrow because of high
reefs at both sides, but the path is well marked. While Al was steering, I was
busy coiling the lines and collecting the fenders. The wind was quite strong,
and we started hitting the waves, which were almost perpendicular on our port
side. Then something flew off and came crashing down the fore-deck, odd shaped
aluminum shards and broken pieces of the plastic cylinder got strewn around. Al
declared that it was one of the radar reflectors, tied above the spreader. I
thought it was not a good omen to have a mishap at the very beginning of our
trip, but hey, we moved on.

We had to go about a mile south in order to clear the many
fingers of small hills reaching down into the ocean, creating deep bays along
the southern coast, where most of the marinas are located. The points closer to
the western edge are longer, so our route was slightly south-west. After
turning towards west, we got the wind on our back, which significantly improved
our comfort. But the waves were relentless, and the sky dark as can be during
the day, with storm cells forming occasionally.Al thought of setting the sails, but I was not up to it. We have six
more months to try the new halyard.

I was concerned with the twin peaks of rocks just above the
water level, a little south of Prickly point, which are called The Porpoises on
our way, so our route came down to its south, and then turned north west
towards Pointe Saline, the westernmost point, turning around the Glover Island
to its south, rather than cutting through the channel.

Of course Al humours me when I make my ultra conservative
routes, then sometimes cuts corners, relying on the two GPS equipment and his
smart phone.This time, when we
approached the island, he suggested taking the channel, cautioning me that I
should not get excited when I saw 12 feet of water under us. Since the weather
was not co-operating, I did not want to lengthen the trip by insisting on the
longer route, so we cut across, but went as far west as the way point given in
the chart to clear the hazards for the entrance to Martin’s Bay at the mouth of
the St George’s harbour.

After reaching the lee of the island, coming to the bay was
a breeze. I prepared the anchor, and we set it at 19 ft., among 25-30 boats
already there. I spotted some heads (swimmers!) in the water around the boats,
a good sign about the quality of water. In all marinas, and some crowded bays,
people do not swim close to the boats, since holding tanks are not heard
of.We are located at the west side of
the island, close to the north end oflarge bay with small protrusions at the south and north edges.I hope this place will be protected from the
Christmas winds in the dead of winter.

Other than that, it
is open sea as far away as eyes can see! Sun tumbles into water directly in
front of us. My favorite sight. I prefer the calm of early evenings, and love
to watch the sun-set, and the awesome colors it creates. One of these days I
want to paint one such sight.